I Couldn’t Believe this Amazing Video of the Aging Process

The idea of aging incites a wide range of feelings, from the anticipation of children longing to progress into adulthood, to the middle-aged dread of those who begrudgingly travel over-the-hill into their “golden years.” In a world full of countless different paths to choose, it’s interesting how much we focus on the few finite inevitabilities that face us all. For filmmaker Anthony Cerniello, the concept behind his time-lapse video was to observe the subtleness of changes that take place during aging. He didn’t want to get from point A to point B too quickly, so he took a more realistic approach in order to showcase the true, gradual nature of growing old.

The video, titled Danielle, is a collection of images of different people from the same family who shared a similar facial structure, ranging from children to the elderly. As Cerniello states in his Vimeo description, “I attempted to create a person in order to emulate the aging process. The idea was that something is happening but you can’t see it but you can feel it, like aging itself.” A team of special effects editors helped bring Cerniello’s vision into fruition by creating smooth, almost unnoticeable transitions. It’s amazing to think of the all the work that went into such a short piece on such a broad subject. As you watch you video, you really appreciate the quaint seamlessness of aging being portrayed, as well as the artfully skilled eye that guided the filmmaker during creation. It’s just under 5 minutes long, and the soundtrack that plays along with it is just as important in setting the tone as the visual aspect.